A 76-year-old Australian man returned to court Monday after a hospital stay of his own making. After being found guilty of committing decades-old child sex offenses in June, he bit into a Snickers bar that he had laced with rat poison in an attempt to die by suicide. The Canberra Times reported at the time that he was told he could not eat in court but finished the candy bar anyway then revealed he had laced the bar. He was taken to a cell, subsequently collapsed, and was brought to a hospital. His lawyer says the man ingested the poison because he "was fearful." He has since largely recovered from the shoulder injury and compound dislocation of one finger he suffered when he collapsed; significant kidney issues persist, reports the Age.
According to prosecutors, the man abused a young girl more than three decades ago following her father's death and warned that he would kill her surviving family members if she revealed the abuse. In a victim impact statement read in court, she described near-daily abuse that began around age four and continued to 10 years: "I was the scared little girl who cried herself to sleep, wishing my father came back to save me," she said. "My entire childhood, I was groomed and abused. ... My adulthood is still tormented by your insanity." The man was found guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and committing indecent acts with a child under 16 and faces up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing will occur at a later date. (More strange stuff stories.)
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